Open Skies
by xTamashii
Summary: Ed and Al's lives are in danger...by a creep who 'saved' two bird chimeras, only to have them kill Edward Elric and his brother Alphonse. Will they be defeated? DISCONTINUED
1. Prologue

**Open Skies**

This is a new story I'm beginning to write. -.O It may be a little gory eventually. It involves two chimeras that are sent to assassinate the Elric brothers…but I've typed too much now. On with the story, and yes, this is a multi-chaptered fic.

Just so you know, most of this chapter takes place during what's happening to Nalara, my OC obviously, and the first chimera. The other chimera, who she calls her 'younger sister', her point of view is at the end. I'm just writing about how they became chimeras. This happened roughly around the time when Ed and Al were at Izumi's, training.

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**_Prologue--_**

_It was a cavern._

_A dark, frightening cavern._

_Shadows consumed every inch of the slippery stone, and the faint noises of water dripping from the ceiling added to the silent atmosphere._

_The loudest sound was the silence._

_A deafening silence, a consuming silence._

_A silence that had evil lurking in its depths._

_This is where she was hiding. The young child, the one that had managed to escape from the raid._

_She huddled in the cave, shuddering from the fear and the cold._

_She knew she would surely die here._

_That's when a soldier noticed her. He barked commands to the others, and they grabbed her. _

_When she came to, she was in a cell. Her head was throbbing, and her memories fuzzy._

_A tall, shadow-skinned man shuffled towards her._

"_I'm glad you are awake now, child."_

_His voice was icy. Dark and icy. It reminded her of the cavern…_

"_Who are you?" Her own voice sounded foreign. It had almost a birdlike trill to it, but she ignored this._

"_I am your savior. Do you not remember? Hardly surprising." He held up a mirror to her face. She gasped._

_Her hair was very short, while two long pieces hung over her shoulders. Of course, they had cut it._

_But that was not what she was afraid of._

_Her left arm was a dark-feathered talon. Her right arm had feathers covering the shoulder. Her eyes were sharp and a fierce yellow._

_She gaped wordlessly as she withdrew the mirror._

"_I-I-"_

"_You have been transmuted into a chimera. Fused with a falcon."_

"_Now what."_

_It was more of a statement rather than a question._

"_I name you. Then we need to find you a partner."_

"_Well, what will my name ne then? I can't really say I remember my old one very well."_

"_I will call you Nalara. Jus remember that name, for it will give you a new life, and a new identity."_

_With that, the stranger vanished, gone without a trace._

_Her bright yellow eyes pierced through the darkness. Watching, waiting._

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_The chimera awoke. _

_Her instincts told her to fly, but her wings were bound._

_Her instincts told her to attack, but her talons her tied._

_Her instincts told her to escape in any way she could, but she no longer had the heart for it._

_So much for survival instincts, she mused._

_That's when he entered._

_The man whose flesh was darker than the back of a beetle._

_Darker than the nights she had flown through._

"_I have a proposal for you, you pitiful beast."_

_She narrowed her eyes dangerously._

"_Hmm, what are you, part owl, part eagle? How sad. Yet you are so intelligent…"_

_She opened her beak, ready to attack, but he paid little attention to this._

"_If you come and work for me, you will have a friend, and you will be free."_

_Free._

_The word triggered something in her._

_She made a sound of agreement._

"_Very well. Your name is now Chiira. You will come with me, now."_

_The bird obeyed._

_Freedom…_

_If she had known he hadn't meant that, she would have slashed his throat on the spot._

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Well, that was kinda short, it was just a prologue, I'll try to make chapter one longer. And the next chapter will have the Elrics in it! Yay!

And, here is how you might pronounce their names:

Nalara (Na-lah-rah)

Chiira (Chi-i-ra)

Yeah, their names are sort of funky, but hey. ;;;

Well, review!

And I'll also be trying to update _Mirage of a Dream _soon enough. I'm just currently uninspired.

Well, I'm hoping this won't be a failure…and I plan to update soon, so there shouldn't be too long of a wait, although the prologue may seem boring.

Please review anyways!


	2. Darkness

**Open Skies**

Hello! Welcome to chapter one of the story! Sorry it took so long to get it up…I lost inspiration. This takes place during when Ed's 15 and Al's 14. The main setting is going to be at several different places, and many different POV's.

Anyways, enough of my rambling, on with our tale!

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**_Chapter one: Darkness—_**

The sun can't even reach here.

The forest was dark and damp, filled with a sense of foreboding.

It reminder her of…

Several images of a girl being carried away from a cavern flashed through her mind.

Nalara shook her head vigorously, as if shaking a fly off of her head.

_Memories…evil things. I was far too weak then._

She narrowed her set of bright gold eyes. Alongside her, her companion, Chiira perched. She cooed softly.

Nalara narrowed her eyes until they were no more than piercing, gold slits.

"Nevermind that now. We have...a mission to complete."

Chiira repeated her statement. Since she could not speak the human tongue, unlike Nalara, she had to resort to speaking like a bird.

Nalara leaned back in the damp tree they had been perched in. She chose to ignore Chiira this time, becoming irritated with the interruptions from the silence of the damp forest.

Chiira simply shuffled her large wings, and contented herself with gazing at the dusty streams of sunlight filtering through the trees.

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_Shuffle. Clank. Shuffle. Clank._

The large suit of armor trudged on the sidewalk, earning him harsh looks from the passerby.

_There was no reason for Brother to react like that._

He gazed up at the sunlight; it was a brilliant fiery yellow, and there were no clouds to block its fiery rays. The said light reflected off of his armor, creating a blinding glare which made him difficult to look at directly.

Alphonse paid no attention to this though, as he continued to trudge miserably down the street, only thinking, over, and over, _There was no reason for Brother to react like that._

He hadn't even noticed where his feet were taking him, he had been lost so deep in his thoughts and worries. He had stopped before an abandoned warehouse. Half of the roof was burned out, and most of the structure had been either eroded away, or burnt to ashes. Yet it was still standing?

Confusion instantly replaced his worry.

_What is a warehouse doing out here? And why wouldn't the military demolish such a worn down building?_

So, overcome by his curiosity, he approached the building, carefully pulled open the battered door, and stepped into the mysterious blackness.

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_Damn._

Edward Elric shuffled though paperwork.

_Damn that Colonel. Damn him._

He was in quite a bitter mood; thanks to a certain State Alchemist we all know and love.

He was stuck here doing useless paperwork, and now he and Al had gotten into an argument. What more could go wrong?

After having fought the homunculi AGAIN, only recently, his patience was beginning to wear very thin. So he had snapped, gotten into a fight with Al, and let Mustang make his life a living hell.

He couldn't really even remember what he and Al were arguing about. He groaned and leaned back in the chair, rubbing his temples.

All he remembered was that it was about something stupid, something about their studies, or their teacher, or something like that…

But unfortunately, he remember his conversation with Mustang clearly:

"_Ah, Fullmetal, such a 'short' amount of time it took you to get here, have a seat if you can reach it."_

"_WHO ARE YOU CALLING AMIDGET TOO SHORT TO REACH A CHAIR!"_

He sighed and closed his eyes for a minute before standing up, grabbing his coat, and leaving the room.

He had to go find Al.

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"Are you sure this is the right information?"

His voice was as dark and sleek as his own flesh.

"Indeed sir…" Replied the greasy voice from the other end of the receiver.

"The Elric brothers are in town, Edward and Alphonse they say…"

"Where are they?" He asked coldly. He had no time to deal with hooligans like this one, but he had no other options when he was short on info and details.

"Well, sir, it is said they are in Central—"

He hung up abruptly. Good. That was all he needed to know. Turning to a cage in the shadows, where faint rustling and hissing sound came from, he spoke, "Soon my snakes, you will have your feast of human flesh. Very soon…"

Very soon indeed, he mused, perhaps even sooner than he predicted…

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Well! There's chapter one, hope you enjoyed it!

Again, I will try to update Mirage of A Dream…soon…as soon as I find inspiration. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, please send them to me, I would appreciate it!

Chapter two will be titled Heartless, and it will hopefully be up soon.

Until then…

REVIEW!


	3. Heartless

**Open Skies**

Hey! I have inspiration! WOOT! I might finish this one before Mirage of a Dream, although I did start this one later. ;)

So, now to our story! I hope you enjoy this chapter, as if focuses a lot on who the black-skinned dude is…if he even is a dude, or something screwed up like Envy. Ah well, I hope you enjoy it anyways. ;)

Dang. I ramble too much. On with the story:

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**_Chapter two: Heartless—_**

He folded his tentacle-like arms over his chest.

_I sense another being coming…is it one of the Elrics? If fortune shall smile upon me, my guesses my be true…_

He massaged his dark temples. _But if they did come here, it may put me in a bad position, since I sent Chii and Nala off to kill them. So…I have only one option left, that is, if—_

A resounding BOOM! Echoed throughout his hideout.

_Damn. I have no plans, no henchmen, and no train of thought. That is my current position._

A twisted smile curled across his features.

_Then so be it. I have plans of my own. I still have the snakes…yes, the snakes… but if I do fail now, Chiira and Nalara can take care of them._

_Shuffle. Clank. Shuffle. Clank._

His grin widened wickedly. One has come. One piece of the puzzle, one piece at a time.

And he was beginning to get a glimpse of the full picture.

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Alphonse looked around in the warehouse; it was blacker than night inside it, which made it very difficult to see.

A faint sound of some kind of liquid dripping reached him. There was also faint rustling, a faint hiss or two, but other than that silence enveloped the abandoned building tighter than a constrictor squeezes its prey to death.

That's when he arrived at the center of the warehouse, only to find a shadowy figure seated on a group of arranged crates like a throne.

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He knew one Elric would come, but he had not expected the younger. Nor did he expect such a menacing looking being to look up at him with- _Awe, reverence, fear? _He didn't know. All he did know is that he now had options.

Bait.

Such a useful thing it was, too. He could use this walking heap of hollow metal for something worthwhile. By attracting his older brother here, he would have his job complete for him. Then the youngest Elric boy spoke up.

"Who are you?"

Such three simple words, yet they were of such great consequence.

"I am called many things, but what _you _may call me Elric, is Master Schatten." (I think it means shadow in German.)

He gazed at Alphonse with contempt and loathing, as if he were a dying dog—something disgusting that was better avoided.

Alphonse looked up at him. "What are you doing here?"

"Something you need not to know."

After that brief exchange, he reached out, plucked up Alphonse as if he were no more than a doll with his long tentacles, and pulled him back into the wicked darkness.

Now all he had to do was wait.

…He would even if there was an eternity of waiting to be done.

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Edward ran along the sidewalks, muttering to himself and shoving carelessly past all of the civilians out on the streets.

He had no idea where Alphonse had gone to, only that he _was _gone, and that much was a little too obvious. There wasn't much left do now but search; something that they had always done continually over the short span of their tortured lives.

That's when he reached the warehouse. It was smack in the middle of nowhere practically. Not to mention it wasn't very strategic to put a warehouse in an abandoned alley. Oh well, so much for good planning.

The thing was pretty hideous too. It deserved to be demolished. Yet, what confounded him the most, is exactly why it wasn't taken down yet. It didn't add much to the décor, that's for sure.

But…

But what if someone left this decrepit warehouse to cover up something? Maybe a military secret? Or maybe this is where Mustang went to stash all of his magazines from Hawkeye…

Well, only one way to find out, and that was by going in and searching.

_Well, I guess there is no other way. Wouldn't hurt to look and find out if Mustang really did stash his magazines here or something…then I could get back at him for that. _

He was mostly kidding, even to himself, but even the slightest thought about vengeance on Mustang was too precious to waste.

So he stomped forward, yanked open the creaky old doors, and stepped inside.

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When he heard much shuffling, stomping, and yanking open of the doors, he had never been happier that he had snatched perfectly useful bait when he had the chance.

It was only a matter of time before his plan was set into action, and the Elric brothers wouldn't live to see another second of their damned, forsaken lives.

He couldn't have asked for a better opportunity, even with Chii and Nala gone, he still had a strong chance to succeed.

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Alphonse felt himself coming out of some sort of daydream; he felt as if he had been dreaming all day. He felt strange, as if he were drifting away. But could armor feel this way? He shifted, only to find he was bound to a steel pole.

Just his luck.

_Brother…you will…come and find me, won't you?_

He would have been crying if he could.

_Please, Brother…I have a horrible feeling about this place…some dark secerts lurk here._

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He shifted lazily on his makeshift throne. The thrill of the kill was arising. He could feel it in his very soul. The Elrics would be dead, and out of his life, all very soon.

Ah, how he awaited this day…

How heartless and cold he was.

How excellent this evening would be.

…Perhaps this evening would be bloody, as well…

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Well, that's that! End of Chapter two- Heartless.

My next chapter will be called 'Bloodless.' Stay tuned for that everyone!

Ed: That's all?!? I had such a small scene!

Tamashii: Yes, it was rather _SHORT _wasn't it Edward? ;P

Ed: #Q(!!!!1!!

Al: OO Brother, come on…

-drags a swearing Ed away-

Well, since my brother is currently beinf rather antagonistic at the moment!

So…

As I'm sure Tamashii would like to say…

We hope you enjoyed, remember to review!


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